KSE support fund in two days

KARACHI - Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin has said that Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) liquidity crunch will end in November and added that proposed Rs20 billion fund will be injected into KSE to bail it out before the removal of the floor.

He assured the entire amount would be invested in a day or two before the final decision was taken to remove the floor mechanism. He said this while addressing a press conference at the KSE on Friday. The advisor however, neither gave the date on which the expected injection of fund would be given or when the floor will be removed.

Tarin said the government would not interfere in the process of floor removal and it would be up to the discretion of KSE board when they wanted to remove it.

Mr Tarin who met with the KSE board of directors before talking to media, said that the KSE board had given a coherent plan to him in the backdrop of current crisis in the stock market and added that the plan would be reviewed to tackle the crisis in the market. He said that the government would do whatever it could to enhance the performance of stock markets to attract foreign investors.

“When the overall economy of the country goes up and down, the stock markets also follow the same patterns,” Tarin said. Tarin said that four state-owned companies, Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), National Investment Trust (NIT), National Bank(NBP) and State Life Insurance Company would equally contribute Rs5 billion each into the newly proposed market stabilisation fund of Rs20 billion.

He said that better economic conditions lead to minimising terrorist activities and better law and order situation lead to improved economy. Both he said were interlinked.